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I was first introduced to Arthur Wooten’s writing when I read his novel Leftovers (my review) and loved it. He writes with humour and insight that captures your attention and doesn’t let go. His newest novel Dizzy is no different except that this novel hits much closer to his heart. It is about a woman who develops bilateral vestibulopathy with oscillopsia (which I’ll elaborate on later in the review) and it changes her life forever. It also changed Arthur’s life and he’s based his character Angie on himself but developed it into a fictional novel that entertains us while informing us on this illness. It is a wonderful novel that touched my heart.

For Angie the world is her oyster. She’s a successful Broadway star at the height of her career when she begins to feel unwell. It happens unexpectedly one night when she’s performing and things just seem off to her. They don’t get any better either; they get worse and quickly. Her taste and smell disappear, she hears a high pitched dental drill in her ear, the floor has turned into squishy foam, her body feels drunk and her head too heavy to hold up. As the symptoms progress Angie finds it more and more difficult to function at all and major panic sets in. Her career as a dancer depends on her balance and now it’s gone. She’s devastated and angry. She wants her old life back… but sometimes we have to learn to adapt to a new one.

Dizzy takes us through Angie’s struggles as she learns more about her illness and then as she tries to accept and deal with it. I liked Angie as a character and while Angie had this great career to lose, this illness would be devastating for anyone. It affects your inner ear which is the one that tells your body where you are in space and without it something as simple as walking becomes impossible. For Angie she has the added problem of oscillopsia which is your brain not knowing if you’re moving forward, back, or left, right or up, down, and it goes into a panic you could say and orders your eyes to lock onto objects so it can figure out where it is which causes blurry and shaky vision – yet another thing making it difficult to function in everyday matters.

I think this novel would be really good for someone suffering with this illness so they know they aren’t alone out there. There is no cure unfortunately. The only thing that can be done is to retrain your brain to function a different way so this is a lifelong battle once you have it. For Angie she had to reevaluate her life and the people she knew and figure out what was most important to her and to her new way of life. Dizzy is an excellent novel and I loved that Arthur wrote it with humour because I think if you didn’t have a bit of humour in your life it would be even harder to deal with this illness. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this novel even to those not suffering with this. It’s entertaining and well written and for me, another winner from Arthur Wooten.

Oh my gosh, this sounds like a totally ravishing disease! I would be terrified if this happened to me, and can only imagine the courage that it would take to live through something like this. Very interesting and intriguing look into a book that I would be scared to read!!

I have an inner ear disorder BPPV. When it came on there was no diagnosis for it like there is now. I honestly thought I had a brain tumor and was going to die. Fifteen months of nonstop vertigo. Even with medications. I then got it under control so it would only flare on occasion. Now, it is rare and I can usually keep it in check. But, just getting up with my head in the wrong position can trigger it. No fun. The book sounds interesting.

An Amazing read. Very Funny descriptive and so honest. I have suffered for 5 years from a vestibular disorder (SCDS)and this book is Bang on on how we feel, what we lived and how it effects us. A must read.the story of my journey. thanks for sharing. I do not read much (triggers my vertigo) but I try to catch up every once in a while on this blog
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